THE GULF
The "Friday Syndrome" and Gulf Oil Drilling (Oceana)
"You might think that before they went back to selling leases they would assess the possible environmental impacts of another spill in the Gulf. To do that they would have to wait for ongoing studies of the last spill to finish -- which they didn't. So the government's effort to decide whether to offer new leases ignores possible impacts of the largest oil spill ever to hit U.S. waters. How sound is that science? And before they auction off any more rights to drill in our Gulf, wouldn't we want them to make sure the companies have a plan for how to prevent and respond to the next spill? Did BOEMRE do that? Only if you trust that one year after we watched in suspense for 87 days, as BP tried week after week to stop the fountain of oil gushing into the ocean, somehow, if it happened today the companies could stop such a problem much more quickly. Unfortunately, that pipe dream is probably not reality."
ALASKA
Proposed oil drilling off Alaska coast prompts studies of environmental impact
"[Shell] faces three daunting issues: Is there a way to drill here without hurting sea life? How can the company build a pipeline that can withstand the ice and shifting shoreline? And if there were a spill, where would the water currents carry the oil? Environmental groups and many Alaska Natives believe that Shell can't provide satisfactory answers to those questions. They argue that there is a lack of data needed for the type of science-based decisions that the Obama administration has vowed to pursue."
ALTERNATIVES TO OIL
Pike forecasts cumulative plug-in vehicle sales to reach 5.2M units worldwide by 2017
